Recently, I caught up with the founder of a high-growth company. The company exploded in growth over the last few years, and now they’re planning for the next twelve months. The founder mentioned that one of his focus areas is maturing the organization. He wants to add more process and structure so they can continue to scale rapidly without the wheels falling off.

When growth is crazy, you normally see a lot of hiring. Things are happening so fast that no one has time to delve into problems or the things holding them back, so they throw bodies at them and hope the smart people they hire will figure it out. The result is continued growth but a lack of process and structure.

When the leaders start planning for continued growth over the next few years, they realize they can’t get there by doing what they’ve been doing. They want more visibility into what’s happening operationally below them, more operational consistency, and assurance that their operations can scale as the company continues to grow.

It’s a cycle I’ve seen before: growth, efficiency, and then more growth. I like to think of it as the company catching up to the expectations implied by its revenue growth. For high-growth companies, it’s part of their normal cycle.